The Carrier (The Carrier Series Book 1) (17 page)

The next morning, my cell phone alarm went off
at seven. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, replaying
every sweet minute I had spent with Ava the night before. I knew I had to get
up and going in order to find a secure place to make the phone call to the CBB,
but had trouble convincing myself to pull the blankets back. I was actually
feeling a little anxious about the call. I hadn’t found enough focus to read
the reports from Agent Harper before my date, and when I got home, I collapsed
into bed, Ava filling my dreams all night.

I grabbed my CBB briefcase, threw on some
clothes, and headed out to my car. Nothing was stirring so early at Animal
Island.

I drove out to the same drive-in movie theater
I had last week and parked in the lot again. I looked at my phone—7:28. I
dialed the number for the CBB and heard the familiar voice asking for my
identification and classification. Soon Agent Harper was on the phone, and he
got right down to business.

“I have some exciting news for you, Nolan. I’ve
been cleared to disclose to you the latest intelligence acquired by our techs.
I assume you’ve read the email documents I sent you?”

Crap!

“Well, actually, I’m not quite all the way
through them yet.”

I quickly rifled through my briefcase until I
found the tablet and started looking through the reports as he was talking.

“Disappointing, Agent Hill.
I
assume you will make it a priority today to finish reading the reports?”

“Yes, sir.
I
will.”

How the hell was I going to do that? I had
planned to spend the day with Ava.

“Let me give you a synopsis. As you know, the
CBB has been aware for quite some time of a complicated public health and
safety risk. The problem is the geneticists are unsure just how this conundrum
will exactly affect the public. It could be very minor, or it could turn into
mass hysteria. Our job is to keep the public free from this knowledge until the
risk has been destroyed. Secrecy is a top priority.”

“Absolutely.”
I was
good at keeping secrets.

“The CBB has been eliciting extremely high and
unusual readings of gamma radiation from the tri-state area. Although gamma
radiation is easily detected by survey meters with a sodium iodide detector
probe, our scientists are having trouble discerning the most dangerous source
of radiation since multiple types of radiation are ubiquitous. There are many
kinds of radiation floating through our atmosphere
everyday
.
The major source of this penetrating radiation must be found as quickly as
possible before the public is exposed to levels that could cause devastating health
problems.”        “How difficult will it be
to find the actual source of radiation?”

“Harder than you think. It most likely looks
like a regular run-of-the-mill gemstone. Our scientists believe the radiation
from this rock could be harnessed and turned into some kind of next generation
bomb. Although we have to be aware of the possibility that someone has simply
picked it up and keeps it in their house as a keepsake, it is more likely that
the person carrying the item is fully aware of its dangerous and criminally
useful nature. ”

Ah
,
the
Carrier
.
Things
are starting to make a little more sense
.

“Sir, I’ve been using the Geiger counter app
you’ve sent to my equipment. I think I’ve found an area with higher levels of
radiation.” This stuff was getting my blood pumping. I was excited to be a
field agent and put to use the months and months of training I’ve
endured. 

“I’m happy you’ve been actively engaged in this
mission, Agent Hill, but those apps can be somewhat unreliable. They’re all
lite
versions of more sophisticated equipment we’re
developing in the labs. Either way, please
email
me
your findings and I’ll have tech take a look at it.”

Unreliable?
Maybe
that’s why I couldn’t see the meteor when I had such a high reading.

“The CBB techs are still working hard to
pinpoint the exact location, using our state-of-the-art instruments, and now we
believe the item is within a hundred-mile radius of Wisconsin Dells. We want
you to keep your eyes and ears open to see if you can get some insider
information from the locals in town. Once the CBB has found the exact point of
radiation, we will need your help to apprehend the item as well as the person
who has been hiding this dangerous rock.”

Exciting.

“I understand, Agent Harper. Thank you for the
report. I will let you know if I hear any rumbles around town.”

Agent Harper thanked me and hung up without
setting up another phone meeting time. It was only 7:50, so I stayed at the
drive-in for a while longer and read the email documents. For the first time I
felt like a real FBI agent. Excitement flowed quickly through my veins as I
focused on my reading.

The documents were basically textbook pages of
information about the awful health hazards related to exposure to this type of
radiation, ranging from radiation sickness, cell death, and DNA damage.

When I was finished, I realized I had spent
about forty-five minutes and hadn’t once thought about Ava. This was the first
time in a few days that Ava hadn’t consumed my every moment.

This is what you’re meant to do,
my
brain explained.
Your job is just as thrilling as some potential
relationship with Ava.

But somehow the passion I felt when I was with
Ava was completely different from the excitement I experienced when immersed in
agency work.

I thought I should do some more scanning, even
though Agent Harper thought the app was useless. It would be so much more
convenient if I could scan a larger area at once, or get to some parts of town
that weren’t very accessible by roads.

Just as this thought crossed my mind, I heard a
helicopter overhead and got an idea—I could take Ava up in a romantic
helicopter ride, and really scan the whole area from up in the sky!

“Nolan, you’re a genius!” I said to
myself. 

I searched the Internet on my phone and found
the phone number to the helicopter rides in town. I made a reservation for two
for 10:30. Although I had a mild fear of heights, I knew they didn’t bother Ava
after she pulled me so close to the edge of Make
Out
Rock. I’d have to suck it up for the short ride. I stopped off at the local
market on my way home to pick up a few items for a surprise beach picnic.

*    
*     *     *

Later
that evening I decided to stop daydreaming about the amazing day I had had with
Ava and do some CBB work. The lock on my briefcase had become sticky lately and
it took me almost five minutes and much frustration to get it to open. I
decided to disconnect the security keypad for the time being. Was someone going
to try to break into my tiny cabin in the middle of tourist-town USA and steal
my CBB issued tech items? I think not. 

I pulled out my tablet and sat on the couch
analyzing the results of the scan I had taken on the helicopter. It was still
hard to believe I scanned the entire city from the air without Ava knowing what
I was up to! The ride was amazing, though, and it was so fun to see Ava so
elated.

I used my tablet to merge the data I had
collected into another app that drew a map of the Wisconsin Dells area and overlaid
colors corresponding with the readings of radiation I had taken. There were
three areas where high levels of radiation were present: one north of town on
Stand Rock Road, one on the outskirts of the Oak Lawn subdivision, and the last
being a four-block range right over Animal Island.

“The app is somewhat unreliable,” I heard Agent
Harper’s voice say in my ear. But what was the harm in investigating the areas
showing higher radiation?

I glanced at the date on my computer. It was
almost the Fourth of July. This summer was slipping by me. Harper’s message
began to occupy my thoughts. What if I’m leaving the Dells soon? What if we
apprehend the Carrier before the Fourth of July? What about Ava?

My brain’s logic echoed in my mind.
You were
a fool to fall for her. Your relationship can only end in heartache.

I wanted so badly to tell Ava the truth about
my job at the CBB and why I was in the Dells, but I knew that could potentially
put her in danger. My heart was screaming at my brain.
Live in the moment and
enjoy each second you spend with her, even if in the end you suffer.

I thought back to the walk we took through the
prairie before we made out in the cave off of the beach. Ava had been asking
some probing questions, looking for some serious information about who I was
and what my life’s aspirations were. I panicked, and spewed some junk about the
Peace Corps. I was cooking up some crap, and I could tell she smelled it.

What are you going to do, Nolan?
I had
thought in the moment.
Break it off before she’s too committed.

I pushed my brain’s challenge out of my mind.
No matter how illogical it was, I wanted to be with Ava. There had to be a way
to continue my mission and date Ava at the same time, I knew it. And that’s
exactly what I intended to do.

The next day I had a late shift at work, so I
woke up early and drove down Stand Rock road to check out the high radiation
levels I had found when I scanned the city from the helicopter. The map I
created of the city showed a high reading at KOA Campground one mile from
downtown. The grounds were well kept and full of flower beds, waterfalls, and
places to relax. I drove straight past the tiny log cabins that lined the
driveway under tall pine trees and parked my car in front of the office building.

I had called ahead and made an appointment to
meet with Hayward
Kubas
, the manager and owner of the
property. Just as I shut off the ignition, the office door opened and an
overweight older man wearing jean overalls and a red flannel shirt shuffled
out. He waved at me and yelled a greeting as I got out of the car.

“Hello there! Mr. Nolan, right?” He took a few
slow steps down the ramp in front of the office and waved a hand in the air at
me. “I can tell it’s you from
yer
fancy car.” He
spoke with a slight old-timey feel.

“Good morning, Mr.
Kubas
.”

“Call me Hayward, son!” he held out a hand to
welcome me in. “Come on in. I’ve got the coffee
brewin
’!”

“Thank you, sir.” I followed the large man up
the ramp, taking advantage of the extra-slow-Hayward-pace to scan the area as I
waited. No obvious meteors.

The office was outdated, but cozy. Hayward
shuffled behind his wooden desk and offered me a seat in a 1970s green velour
high-armed swivel chair. He poured two mugs of black coffee and took a long sip
before offering me one.

“What can I do for
ya
,
Mr. Nolan?” Hayward’s chin had stubbly, grey hairs and his eyes were a calm,
pale green.

“I’m a local scientist and...”

“Science?” he interrupted, thumping his hand
down on the desk. “What sort of science?” He leaned forward with big eyes,
looking slightly like an overexcited bear.

“Well I’m a student of all sciences, actually,
but I’m most interested in astronomy these days.”

“Astronomy,” Hayward repeated dreamily. “Like
outer space and junk?”

I chuckled a little.
“Yes,
exactly.”

“Oh, I love space. If I hadn’t inherited this
place from my parents forty-five years ago, I would have gone off to college
and learned about them alien life forms.”

“So you’ve lived here all your life, Hayward?”

“Oh yes, quite so. My family tree goes way back
to the times when the Ho-Chunk walked through these forests.”

“Amazing.
Look,
I’m searching for places around the area that may have been hit by recent
meteor showers. Have you heard of any such instances while you or your
family have
been around here?”

Hayward scrunched up his forehead and
itched
the back of his head. “Well, nothing out of the
ordinary, I don’t suppose.”

“I see,” I said, disappointed.

Hayward stuck his pointer finger up in the air.
“Well, unless you count the great meteor shower of 1913!”

Good grief.

“Yes, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m
looking for! What can you tell me about it?” I took out my tablet and opened a
new document, ready to take notes.

“My grandfather used to tell stories of the
night when bright blue rocks radiating tall flames of purple fire fell from the
sky.”

“Blue rocks?
Purple fire?”
Perhaps Hayward was as crazy as they came. I wrote down a note and then closed
my tablet’s screen.

“Yes sir. Sure as the moon itself. Blue rocks
licked with purple fire fell from the night sky.”

“Very interesting.
Did
you grandfather keep one of these
blueish
purple fire
rocks?”

“No, sir, Mr. Nolan, he did not. Scared to
death of it, you know. Thought it was from the devil himself.
The blue devil, of course.”

“Right...” I took a sip from the mug in front
of me and just about choked. It tasted like something that dripped from the
underside of my car. I set the mug back down quickly.
“How
about recently, Hayward.
Have you noticed any blue or other colored
rocks falling from the sky anytime since you’ve been here?”

“
Naw
.
I
haven’t been lucky enough to witness that
kinda
miracle.” He took a long sip of his coffee and then muttered, “
Shoulda
gone to college.”

A loud knock rapped on the door of the office.

“Come in,” Hayward yelled.

A very short woman, probably about five feet
tall, entered the room. “Hay, the bus of girl scouts has arrived. Come on out
to greet ’
em
!”

“Yes, ma’am,” he called back. Then he leaned
across the desk and held out his hand for a shake. “Well, I’ve
gotta
go, Mr. Nolan. It’s been a pleasure.”

“Same here, Hayward.
Say,
would you mind if I took a look around? Your grounds are beautiful.”

“Be my guest, son!” Then he lifted one eyebrow.
“But watch out for them devilish blue rocks.”

I snickered and he responded with a very loud
belly laugh. I followed Hayward out of the building and took a sharp left at
the bottom of the ramp, heading towards the RV camping sites. I retrieved my
phone from my pocket and checked the time. I had one hour before my shift began
at Lower Two. I turned on the Geiger counter app and strolled through the
campgrounds, watching the numbers. They were highest at the very back of the
campground and soon I found myself standing at a high chain-link fence staring
into a hazardous waste dump site.

“Well, there’s the source of radiation.
Nothing cosmic about this junk.”

I headed back through the campground with my
eyes pasted to my cell app. The numbers continued to decline as I reached
Hayward’s office. I dejectedly opened my car door and slid into the driver’s
seat. I had secretly wished this was the answer. That Hayward had a meteor
sitting on a pedestal at the entrance gates for all to see as they entered the
campgrounds.

Oh well. One dead end wasn’t going to stop me.
I had two more areas of high radiation to check out. If only I could
investigate them immediately instead of heading off to my fake job. But I
smiled as I pulled back onto Stand Rock road—I’d be seeing my Ava within a few
minutes.

 *    
*     *     *

I
had full shifts at DBT for the next few days and spent any free time I had with
Ava. I didn’t get back to my investigation for the CBB until three days later
when I had my next day off. Ava was scheduled to work, so I took advantage of
my time alone. 

The campground had been a bust, and I was
hoping one of the last two areas would be what the CBB was looking for. I began
with the subdivision east of town called Oak Lawn. I turned down Webber Avenue into
the middle of the subdivision. I passed many newer houses, many of them much
larger than the ones in Ava’s neighborhood. I took Webber all the way until it
met Pleasant View Drive, which ran along the back of the subdivision. There I
parked my Audi on the quiet street and took out my tablet. I ran the Geiger
counter app and got to work. It took a while, but I continued to scan until the
numbers began to rise, just like at the campground.

I found myself at a new construction site on
the far north side of the neighborhood. Crews were busy pouring a foundation
for a house and excavating the land with backhoes. I parked and took a scan
with my app.

It had the highest reading I had taken that
day.

I spotted the site foreman and approached him.

“This is a hard hat area only, buddy,” he
yelled over the machines’ noise. “You’ve got to go.”

“I’m Stan from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission investigating a high radiation scan of this area.”

“The NRC?” he said, guiding me out to the
street and away from the machinery. “The high radiation must be the radon.
Almost every house in this neighborhood has to install a mitigation system to
get the radon out of their houses.” He waved a hand behind him. “This place is
loaded with it!”

“High radon levels in the soil, huh?”

Dammit
. This
can’t be the source.

“Yep.”

“Well, thank you. I will report back to my
office with this information.” I began to walk away towards my car and the
foreman yelled across the street to me, “The NRC already knows! I’m not sure
why they sent you!”

I shut the car door and nodded politely while I
drove off.

Last stop—Ava’s neighborhood.

Scanning the area around Animal Island was not
as easy as the campground or subdivision. I could tell the numbers were higher,
but it was hard to pinpoint a specific location of any kind. When I wasn’t with
Ava I had knocked on a few doors, asking local residents questions that might
lead me to the source, but no one seemed to know much about radiation in the
area. I had spent much of my free time wandering through the streets
surrounding Animal Island, but there was nothing out of the ordinary that could
indicate a reason for higher radiation. Nothing I could see, anyway.

My
lite
little app
wasn’t doing the trick. I needed the CBB to bring in the heavy equipment. But
the reality of what I was doing began to set in—I would be moved to another
location once I located the exact source of harmful radiation and the CBB
apprehended the Carrier. By fulfilling all my job requirements I was
essentially ending my relationship with Ava. So what if I bought myself some
time by not reporting my findings to Agent Harper immediately after I’d
uncovered them?

I had told Ava I loved her on the Fourth of
July, but I was sure she didn’t hear me over the fireworks’ booms. I hadn’t
found the guts to tell Ava again that I loved her. I couldn’t ever find the
right time, and quite frankly I was scared. I knew we had both invested nearly
the entire summer—and, at least for me, almost all of my heart—to each other.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t think of a scenario where our relationship would
end happily. Every time thoughts of what was going to happen to us jumped into
my head, I pushed them out. A gutless way to deal with life, I knew, but it was
too painful to confront reality—the end of summer probably meant the end of our
relationship.